Back in 2013, Doug Field left Apple to join Tesla. Back then, he was the Hardware Vice President at Apple and jumped to Tesla to lead its vehicle engineering efforts. More recently, he oversaw the Model 3 production Now, after almost a five-year stint at Tesla, Doug is back at Apple. 

Apple’s spokesperson has confirmed that Doug is backed at Apple, though the company did not confirm on what project or role Doug is working on. However, given the knowledge and expertise that Doug Field has gained after working at Tesla for almost 5 years, it is obvious that he must be working on Project Titan at Apple.

Despite Daring Fireball suggesting that this might show that Apple is still interested in developing its own vehicle, I doubt this is the case here. Sure, Apple might be working on a prototype of an autonomous vehicle for testing and development purposes, but I doubt the company is really interested in mass producing autonomous vehicles. The last report surrounding Project Titan also mentioned that Apple has scaled back its ambitions of a self-driving vehicle and is instead working on the technology behind it.

Incidentally, Doug Field returning to Apple and apparently working on Project Titan also means that he is now working with Bob Mansfield. The latter had last worked on the Apple Watch before retiring from his role at Apple in 2015. However, Apple pulled him out of retirement in 2016 to lead the Project Titan team.